EAST GRAND RAPIDS, MI — There is much that’s remarkable when it comes to the former Ramona Park, once dubbed the “Amusement Mecca of Western Michigan.”

For decades, the park on the shores of Reeds Lake provided entertainment-seeking Grand Rapidians with everything from vaudeville shows to roller coaster thrills.

Besides having one of the finest theaters on the circuit, Ramona Park had a roller coaster racer, a merry-go-round, dance pavilion, fun house, the latest in amusement park rides and picnic grounds — all steps away from the Reeds Lake beaches, steamship rides and boat liveries.

Ramona drew storied performers like Buster Keaton, Will Rogers and Jack Benny, musicians like Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey, and provided a venue for political figures like Carrie Nation and Clarence Darrow.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing, one might gather from walking through East Grand Rapids today, is that Ramona Park existed at all. The park, which began as a pavilion at the end of a streetcar line in the early 1880s, was demolished in 1955.

View full sizeOnce located on the shores of Reeds Lake, the former Ramona Park is long gone but not forgotten. Gail Snow has self-published an exhaustively-detailed history of the amusement park, which operated from the 1800s to 1955 in East Grand Rapids where the Gaslight Village business district is located today.Courtesy Photo | Gail Snow

Today, there’s nothing left but photos, scattered mementos and memories. The Gaslight Village commercial and residential buildings occupy the grounds today.

The 312-page exhaustively researched hardcover book is filled with photos, sidebars and anecdotes discovered through archival research as well as interviews with former park employees and attendees.

Snow will showcase the book and her research at a presentation at the Grand Rapids Public Library Main Branch on Thursday evening, Oct. 24, starting at 7 p.m.

In the meantime, below are five interesting tidbits of Ramona history composed by Gail Snow to whet your appetite. Enjoy!

The Derby Racer: Ingersoll’s ‘finest work’

The Derby Racer was so named for its two side-by-side tracks and trains that were released at the same time, and would race through the course. The one at Ramona Park was the sixth coaster by that name. It was designed by Fred Ingersoll, famous as the father of amusement parks, and he proclaimed it his finest work upon its completion in 1914. Long-leaf yellow pine was used, chosen for its durability. The lumberman who furnished it visited Dixie forests a year ahead of time to select the trees that would be used. Nails were not used in the construction but, rather, it was bolted together. During its lifetime, the Derby Racer was frequently inspected by workers who replaced sections of lumber and tightened or replaced the bolts. In the 1950s, Jim McElwee, proprietor, said there was probably not one foot of the original lumber left.

Sole survivor: The miniature train

The miniature train was owned and operated by Harry Glidden, himself a railroad man from the Rock Island line in Iowa. He also was an inventor and had a hand in the design and construction of the locomotive. When the first Glidden train was installed at Ramona in 1922, Glidden had the tracks positioned slightly less than the standard width of 16 inches so that should his contract not be renewed, nobody else could use his layout. The train that most people would remember was introduced by Glidden in 1937. That locomotive, tender and cars now reside at Burley Park near Howard City, where two miles of track through the woods offer the rider an enjoyable journey. It is the only Ramona Park ride still known to still exist.

The skating rink had an epilogue

Ramona Gardens, known to most as the skating rink, was built in 1912 as a dance hall. The building was described by the newspaper as a “whale” because of the round roof — quite a novelty at that time. Nine steel arches rose up 36 feet from the floor. The dance floor was built on furring strips over a subfloor, which gave it an unusual springiness and resiliency that was popular with dancers. Two inches of seaweed was packed between the floors as a water barrier. In 1942, Henry Nieboer leased the building, installed a new floor, and opened the building for roller skating. When the park was torn down in 1955, this building was dismantled and carted to a new location at Oak Industrial and Plymouth. It operated as a skating rink for a time, then became a venue for musical performances popular with teens.

The ‘tunnel of love’ was short-lived

Few people still remember the Mystic Chutes ride which opened in 1921. It combined the “tunnel of love” concept of a boat ride through illuminated passages with a thrilling plunge at the end into a pool of water. Riders sat in a gondola which appeared to ride on water in a trough, but was actually pulled along on tracks. Such rides were also known as scenic railways because of the painted scenery through which the troughs ran. The Ramona Park version of the ride was destroyed on the Friday before Labor Day in 1931 when a lightning strike sparked a fire. Since the tunnel was sealed with tar, the fire raged. Firefighters managed to quell the flames before the nearby Derby Racer was also destroyed. The coaster tracks were scorched but quickly repaired.

Big Bertha organ retired to Florida

The McElwee merry-go-round was installed at Ramona Park in 1909, in the octagonal building constructed in 1903. People would remember the beautiful animals, most of which “galloped” up and down, and a lion and gondola that were stationary. By the 1940s, the music that accompanied the ride was furnished by records being played over loud speakers. This music replaced what originally came from three military organs producing their sound from paper rolls or paper “books.” The carousel was sold and moved when the building was torn down. The organs were discovered in storage in Alabama in 1963 and were restored. All three exist and are being used today. The most famous, Big Bertha, lives in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort restaurant.